About

Portland, Oregon, United States

45.5181-122.6422

Lone Fir Cemetery in the southeast section of Portland, Oregon, United States is a cemetery owned and maintained by Metro, a regional government entity. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first burial was in 1846 with the cemetery established in 1855. Lone Fir has over 25,000 burials spread over more than 30 acres (120,000 m2). Lone Fir’s first burial came in 1846 when Emmor Stephens was buried several miles east of the small community of Portland. In 1854 Emmor’s son James B. Stephens sold the family farm to Colburn Barrell with the caveat that Barrell maintain the gravesite.

The following year Barrell’s steamboat the Gazelle, exploded near Oregon City killing a passenger and Barrell’s business partner Crawford Dobbins. Barrel then set up a cemetery by setting aside 10 acres (40,000 m2) and burying the casualties of the explosion at the site of Emmor Stephens, calling it Mt. Crawford. Plots at the cemetery were then sold for $10 with 20 acres (81,000 m2) additional being added to Lone Fir by 1866. That year Barrel offered to sell the cemetery to the city of Portland for $4,000, but the city declined and instead Barrell sold it to a group of investors. Those investors then re-named the cemetery to Lone Fir as there was only a single fir tree at the site.

In 1903, a $3,500 memorial to the soldiers of the Indian Wars, Mexican-American War, the American Civil War, and the Spanish-American War was built at the cemetery.[dead link] The Soldier’s Monument was paid for by donations by over 500 citizens. Then in 1928 Multnomah County took over control and maintenance of Lone Fir. In 1947 the county paved part of the cemetery and later constructed a building on the site. This was the location of many Chinese graves, which were removed the next year. In 2004 it was discovered that more graves likely remained at the site.